In the late 1950s, a young man from Lahore, fired by Marxist ideology, landed in London to study architecture and politics. The time of building then was dominated by modernism, concrete factories-offices, cubism, and asbestos-infected, standardised prefab houses.

Now in his 80s, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, one of Pakistan's most celebrated architects, is the subject of a book about his life and works. The Time of Building: Kamil Khan Mumtaz and Architecture in Pakistan was launched earlier this year at Mumtaz's alma mater in London, Architectural Association, one of Britain's oldest architectural institutions, founded in 1847.

Some 50 multinational journalists, alumni, students and researchers, packed the Association's library some months ago to hear the author Dr. Chris Moffat, Senior Lecturer in South Asian History, Queen Mary University of London, and of course, Kamil Khan Mumtaz who had flown in from Lahore.

The Architectural Association is currently archiving the global influence of its Department of Tropical Architecture from 1954 to 1971. This book serendipitously contributes to that mission, commented Edward Bottoms, Head of Archives.

The book also fills a vacuum that Dr Moffat had observed during the time he spent in Pakistan doing his research and interviewing Mumtaz -- the absence of an accessible and comprehensive national archive of architecture in Pakistan.

A personal journey

In his afterward, Amen Jaffer, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Lahore University of Management Sciences, personifies the paradox of modernity as defined by Mumtaz -- “fast growing urban populations” and “climate change, cost and availability” (depletion) are the necessary consequences of “modernity”, driven by the "pursuit of endless growth, progress and development”.

This is what happened when Jaffer’s parents moved from a small house in a ‘gali’ (cul-de-sac), into a much larger one. While designed by Mumtaz to incorporate and respect traditional materials and skills, it still contributed to urbanisation -- and to Jaffer’s difficulty in justifying the new house “with the expansive and accessible roof” not only to his friends but also to himself, although earlier he had felt “shame at my ‘house in the gali’.” His school friends, who had suffered through his recently discovered penchant for invoking Marx “were quick to pounce on the hypocrisy of it all” (p. 194).

Dr. Moffat’s interviews capture Mumtaz’s mindset during ‘the evolving time of building,’ moving from London to Ghana and Lahore while embracing modernism and advances in architectural and building technologies. Over time Mumtaz developed a growing realisation and understanding of how buildings impact local environments, ecology, the psychology of inhabitants and neighbourhoods. That realisation manifested, later, as recognition and respect for culture, use of traditional materials, techniques and skills to shape the living experience.

In 1957, the Government of Pakistan appointed Mark Sponenburgh, from the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts, to oversee the establishment of the National College of Arts, founded in 1876 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts in Lahore. Sponenburgh served as NCA Principal from its launch in 1958 to 1961. Mumtaz and like-minded colleagues viewed the American influence as ‘imperialist’.

The National College of Arts had started a course in architecture in 1959 but dropped it in 1962 when the newly launched University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, started its own five-year architecture course.

Joining the NCA in 1966, Mumtaz, still committed to the modernist position and influenced by Marxist ideology, was instrumental in re-establishing, from scratch, the NCA's five-year course in architecture around 1968. He wanted to empower students to become creative architects and began re-structuring the faculty, devising courses (interactive or 'taught'), and their delivery.

Evolving perspective

Although the word 'architect' combines the Greek 'arkhi' (chief, master), and 'tekton' (builder), ‘master builders’ been around for millennia and as Mumtaz observes (p. 166), if man has lived for a day, then the entire agricultural, pre- and post-industrial stage, would barely occupy the last hour of that existence.

In that 'hour', architects have realised the dreams of kings, priests, landlords, governments, industrialists, town planners -- and private individuals, contributing to mushrooming urbanisation caused by the insatiable demand for more houses. Having worked with a diverse range of stakeholders Mumtaz knows that while architects can inspire hope, and a sense of community and belonging through their designs, sometimes stakeholders can demand adjustments.

Mumtaz gives the example of the Minar-e-Pakistan, a monument commemorating the site where the All-India Muslim League passed the Lahore Resolution on 23 March 1940, leading to the creation of Pakistan. Commissioned in 1959 by the second President of Pakistan and army chief General Ayub Khan, the Minar (tower) was designed by Nasreddin Murat-Khan, a mixed heritage Muslim from Dagestan. He completed the Minar in 1968, satisfying religious interests with a stainless-steel minaret.

As Mumtaz recounts in the book, his ideological world views started changing in the 1980s after meeting Iranian architect Nader Ardalan and reading his 1973 book The Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture. “It shattered all the beliefs I had, being a Marxist, an atheist, a modernist. To realise that the modernist world view is fundamentally flawed, and that the principles of truth have been around in traditional societies forever” (pp. 104-106).

Along with a growing appreciation of tradition, his later use of traditional bricks conveys an earthly grounded strength as well as stature amidst the proliferation of shiny structures in Pakistan, and indeed around the world. A bit like how old money whispers, whilst new money shouts.

This journey comes through in the book's presentation, beautifully designed curated by multidisciplinary graphic designer, researcher and Karachi-based academic Kiran Ahmed. She uses heavy textured paper to reflect Mumtaz’s work with earthy bricks, and line drawings to show stages in the building of Mazaar Baba Hassan Din’s shrine in Lahore. These drawings signpost the reader's journey in the book, as well as the ‘Phases’, or ‘Times’ of building, in Mumtaz’s life.

Trauma

Trauma also plays a part in Mumtaz's story. Born in Calcutta -- now Kolkata -- British India, in 1939, he was studying at Murree Convent school, Northwest British Punjab, when he experienced the upheaval caused by the maladministered creation of India and Pakistan in 1947. This added to the trauma that already haunted many, young and old, veterans and survivors of World War II, followed by India-Pakistan clashes in 1948 and 1965.

As an educator at the National College of Arts, Mumtaz interacted, through seminars and student and faculty exchanges, with the University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka. The work of leading Bengali architects such as Muzharul Islam resonated with Mumtaz’s modernist views. There was more trauma when East Pakistan ceded from Pakistan, to create Bangladesh, in 1971.

Rising demand for housing and infrastructure, coupled with environmental challenges, remain primary issues around the world. These issues are exacerbated in countries like Pakistan where millions still live at or below the poverty line, in flimsy dwellings on the outskirts of cities, on river flood plains or near refuse sites.

In 1977, Mumtaz’s architectural practice BKM Associates was selected to partner with Christopher C. Harding and Halcrow Fox Associates on Lahore Urban Development and Traffic Study, a World Bank-funded, five-year project. The plan also upgraded utility services in the Walled City. They faced the hard-to-meet ongoing challenge of keeping pace with the requirements of a growing population, while existential threats focused expenditures on defence, stunting socio-economic development and preventing the improvement of existing infrastructure -- issues that continue to plague Pakistan.

This raises questions about state organisations, public services, state and retail architects. How can traditional buildings and materials meet the demand for affordable housing and infrastructure in villages and towns? Can traditional materials cope with seismic activity, global warming and floods? Can traditional buildings accommodate modern amenities?

These are questions to which a traditional approach, at the macro or village level, may not have answers or solutions that are practical and affordable. But, as in life, a balance between modernity and tradition might be more productive. This is Mumtaz’s approach.

Even someone unconnected to this field will appreciate how The Time of Building conveys aspects of Kamil Khan Mumtaz's journey and evolving philosophy as it influences his architectural designs. The book also reflects a life well lived and a journey that took the scenic route.

Overall, A Time of Building is a wonderful walk, beautifully curated, with one of Pakistan’s most celebrated and respected architects as he recounts various phases of his life and the inspirations that influenced his designs.

The Time of Building, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Architecture in Pakistan

By Chris Moffat with Kiran Ahmad and Amen Jaffer
Folio Books Lahore, Oct 2023
197 pages, £13.00

(The author is based in Oxford and Manchester, U.K. He is the author of Mythical India: The Great British Deception, Sengge Zangbo Ltd., 2024. By special arrangement with Sapan)